It was an eventful day in the life of Diego Costa as he scored four in Atletico Madrid's 7-3 rout of Real Madrid, before starting a brawl and getting sent off.
Billed as the International Champions Cup, essentially a friendly, the game ended up being anything but thanks to mercurial man Costa.
The drama is best explained in our tweets below. Love him or hate him, there's no doubt Costa often finds his way into the limelight - for a variety of reasons!
It was just a normal day in the life of Diego Costa when Atletico beat Real Madrid 7-3 in a friendly...
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) July 27, 2019
⏱️ Scores in first minute
🎩 First half hat-trick
😯 Ends up with four
💪 Instigates 40-man brawl
😡 Sent off!
👌 This was his fourth...pic.twitter.com/EpKOoQLD0u
Most players would be pretty chilled out after scoring four goals and putting your team 6-1 up v Real Madrid.
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) July 27, 2019
😂💪 Not Diego Costa. Not when there's still a brawl to start...pic.twitter.com/x7V3wBQ5Hh
Real fielded a strong side once again, with new signings Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic starting up front and Gareth Bale again on the bench, but were 5-0 down at the end of a shambolic first half.
Atletico fielded a host of new arrivals, including club-record signing Joao Felix, who immediately caught Real cold on the counter before playing Costa in for his opening goal in the first minute.
Felix got among the goals himself seven minutes later before Angel Correa, an early substitute for the injured Alvaro Morata, shocked Real with a third in the 19th minute.
Saul Niguez capitalised on more slack defending from Real to thread through to Costa who fired in the fourth with just 28 minutes on the clock.
Costa capped a disastrous half for Real in stoppage time, winning a penalty before converting from the spot.
The punishment did not stop after the break, as Felix again fed Costa six minutes into the second half before Nacho pulled one back for Real near the hour-mark.
The Costa onslaught ended abruptly when he and Real's Dani Carvajal were both red-carded for fighting, adding further drama to an incredible friendly.
Vitolo added a fine seventh for Atletico, before Karim Benzema and Javi Hernandez scored late for Real to avoid what would have been the side's biggest defeat to their city rivals in a competitive match.
Real's defending will certainly be of great concern to head coach Zinedine Zidane, having seen his side concede 12 goals in three games in the USA, but there were very few other positives to take from the trip.
Hazard and Jovic, who have featured in all three games, mustered just two shots at goal between them in the tour.
Reaction
Zinedine Zidane
The Frenchman admitted he was "hurt" after Real were embarrassed in New Jersey.
"I'm not concerned, but I'm hurt," Zidane said at his post-match press conference, reported on the club's official website.
"You don't play to lose. But we can't be looking backwards.
"It was a bad game and now we have to focus on what went wrong, so we can try and make sure it doesn't happen again in the next match.
"We don't need to dwell on it, this is a pre-season game. They were better in every respect and that's all there is to it."
The build-up to the game was dominated by reports of Gareth Bale being set to leave Real and join Chinese club Jiangsu Suning.
Bale started on the bench and came on for the final 30 minutes of a game in which Nacho, Karim Benzema and Javi Hernandez scored for Real.
"We can't be pleased with this defeat, that much is clear," said Zidane.
"We just really lacked the intensity you need at this level. But I'm convinced I've got a team here that is going to compete at the top level. We'll be motivated and hungry to keep going, I have no doubt about it.
"I'm convinced we're going to have a good season. This won't change what we're looking to achieve this season. The players are not letting me down, we're just preparing for the new season and we have to remain calm. We have to be ready for when LaLiga comes around."
Diego Simeone
The Atletico boss told his club's official website: "We prepared the game knowing it was a derby.
"We played well and I told the lads. The players are very excited.
"The goal is to arrive at the first LaLiga match in the best possible shape."
